The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A woman died last night when she and three others were shot by gunmen on Deveaux Street.

The victims included three women and one man.

Before press time yesterday, the three living victims were fighting for their lives at Princess Margaret Hospital.

Police have yet to release their identities.

However, Andrew Russell, 40, identified the deceased as Vanessa Taylor, his girlfriend, a hairdresser and the mother of his two children — a ten-year-old and a five-year-old.

“I will always love her,” Mr Russell told The Tribune, choking back tears as friends and family comforted him.

However, he said his girlfriend was “stubborn,” adding that although she was not a specific target for anyone, she refused to heed his pleas to leave the “unsafe” Deveaux Street area and live somewhere else.

He said the area where she was killed is “a known spot” for criminals to target.

“I’ve been shot five times and she’s the woman that cleaned me, so I loved her,” he said, adding that he had known Vanessa for 13 years.

His two children were with Vanessa when she was shot, but they were not harmed, he added.

Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner Anthony Ferguson declined to discuss possible motives for the shootings. He said no suspects have been arrested so far.

Mr Ferguson said the victims were on the porch of a house when two gunman came from a vacant lot almost adjacent to them and opened fire.

He said after opening fire, the gunmen ran from the scene of the crime. He added the circumstances of the incident are still being determined.

An eyewitness, Joseph Ferguson, told the press that two of his daughters were among the victims fighting for their lives in the hospital. He said he did not know the status of their condition.

When the shots were fired, he said “everyone started to run.”

Asked how he felt when he heard the shots, he said: “I wish I had one to fire back.”